Freedom Days!

Our RAH clients saying Thank You to the soldiers who are fighting overseas.

Each year, Provo has it's Freedom Days. This includes a balloon launch every morning at 6am. The Kiwanis Club also serves a pancake breakfast to the public. Of course it does cost $6 per person to eat it. It's a fundraiser breakfast and they donate money to charities. So naturally, RAH is a charity and we provide volunteers to help keep the breakfast flowing. We arrive at 5:45am to set up and our duties include refilling the syrup and butter, cleaning up tables, collecting trash, and helping people find their seats. In past years, it has been pretty chaotic but I felt like it was pretty smooth this year. Plus I remembered my camera this year and managed to escape a number of times to snap some photos...

The stars and stripes!

My co-worker Lindsey and I... yup, it's like 6am and look how chipper we are.

This was the first day. We watched the balloons get filled with air.

Smokey the Bear makes a yearly appearance. I always thought he looked a little... strange.Balloons up and ready to lift.
Unfortunately, on the first day, the winds were not suitable for flying and so no one got to take off. So everyone just packed up after they got the balloons deflated... like in this picture here. You're liking that Tony the Tiger in the background aren't you?The next morning gave a beautiful sunrise. The weather was still a little ify for launching balloons.
More balloons showed up this day. Probably about 15 or so.And it turned out to be good flying weather and a great sky to get some cool pictures. I must've taken a million pictures but it looked so cool! Lucky for you, I only selected a few to post. I especially love the pig and how it looks in the air. My good friend Liz's brother flew that balloon.The 4th of July brought another lovely sunrise, even a few more balloons than the previous day and another good flying day. I didn't take as many pictures since I took a whole load the day before and we were pretty busy at the breakfast.And as a side note, on July 3 I experienced my first massage ever. It was fine although I didn't feel much different afterward... I mean, it was relaxing but I don't feel any more loose or anything. This place also had an oxygen bar... you put those hospital looking things in your nose and breathe in pure oxygen that is also flavored. It was a very different experience and I'm not exactly sure what it's supposed to do for you....

Bathroom Mats

A couple of weeks ago, I went to clean the bathroom and discovered that the floor mats were stuck to the floor. I tugged to pull them up and I heard tearing noises. Not wanting to deal with it, I just cleaned around the mats and called it good. Today I decided since the mats were filthy and they were going to be toast once I ripped them up from the linoleum, I went to Target and got some cheep "step out mats", that have no rubber backing on them and went to work on getting the mats off the floor. This one is the mat that wrapped around the toilet...

And here is the other mat by the vanity that I ripped up. I used a butter knife to scrap the remains off the floor. Took about 20 minutes...I decided to have a little fun in my chore :)
I'm not sure how this happened. Alyssa and I decided that it was either from when she cleaned the bathroom before and put the mats back on the floor when it was wet. Or it was when I last washed and dried the mats and put them back on the floor when it was still a little warm from the dryer. In any case, they are now in the trash and these are the pretty red mats I purchased.

In other news, last week was RAH's annual Lagoon day. It was pleasant day with sun but not too hot. Alyssa came along with me and rode many of the rides that I wouldn't. Thanks Alyssa! Here is a group of the participants with Alyssa sitting in the 2nd seat.
She actually wouldn't ride this roller coaster because she doesn't love the loop dee loops it had. And though you can barely see them, the participants are sitting in rows 1, 2, and 5.

And here's us right at the start of Rattlesnake Rapids. The water ride in a tube type thing where water splashes around while you move down a river current. You know what I'm talkin about right? The one where you come off soaking wet and freezing cold.

Sunshiny Days!

A rundown of the last few weeks. Finally, it stopped snowing here (hope I didn't just jinx myself). And lovely flowers popped out in the sun at work.

The roommates at a BYU baseball game. Though not officially a roommate, Matt is like our 4th. He belongs to Karen.

Our RAH choir performed at a retirement community.

We visited the Thanksgiving Point animal farm a couple of weeks ago where we fed goats, chickens, horses, and saw a bunch of other animals too.

We took a tour at the Krishna temple this last Saturday. They let us handle the llamas. One of them stepped on part of my foot but it didn't hurt so that was good.

This is the same place where this happened a couple of months before to welcome in spring.... Holi Fest or Festival of Colors.

A few days ago, I did a very simple cake decorating class. I let them choose from 3 patterns: a sailboat, a flower, and a bear.

The cakes turned out pretty good and very creative. This picture is especially for Jason and Heather. It's haupia pie! I made it from scratch and it turned out fantastically! Of course, I never got to try Ted's so I'm not sure how close it is in taste but it was sure delicious. Let me know if you want the recipe!

Snow... *sigh*

Remember when it was spring? I don't. Remember how it snowed all day on April 15 and then all night as well? I do. Eight inches. EIGHT. That's not supposed to happen in April (actually it's expected. It always snows during finals week at byu.)

I think the April "showers" just killed the May flowers.

Last Day in Paradise...

Whoops! Thought I forgot about posting about our very last day did ya? Well nope, I just got a little lazy :) But here we go, our very last day in Hawaii. It was another lovely day... well lovely enough. It wasn't super hot or anything, but there was sun and blue sky out! We started by going to the Pali lookout. Great view! Every time I saw this -uhh, the dragon's back? - when we drove by, all I could ever think of was the Jurrasic Park theme song. Hahaha.

And there's the beach we're about to go to.

Of course Flat Alix got her picture taken as well.

And as we were leaving, Jason and Ashlyn went to chase the chickens that were just hanging out in the parking lot.

Then we drove out to Lanikai beach. That's one good looking beach with a real nice family hanging enjoying themselves there. Oh wait, that's us! Doesn't that sand look fantastic? It was.

There was a man who set up his fishing post right in front of us for a while. I'm not sure he ever caught anything. Not that I notcied anyway.

For the first while we just sat on the beach and enjoyed the surroundings and all the beauty of this very relaxing beach.

Even Flat Alix got some sun... with baby doll.

This is the view to the right of us.

And here's the view to the left of us.

J and Ash braved the water. While it was a nice day out, the water was still pretty cool but Ashlyn doesn't care, she just wants to play!

After they came out, Ashlyn got warm, while I decided to test out the water myself.... but only on my feet. Brrrr, it was a little chilly. I was happy to just relax out of the water.

Heather found a nice sturdy stick and started writing different things in the sand and taking pictures of her words before they got washed away by the water.

Just chillin here.

Later on, we decided to play horseshoes. So Jason got it all set up.

Dad and Jason played first. Look at the concentration.

Nice throw!

Then Heather and I played. I guess we could've all played together... but Heather and I weren't really able to throw as far as the boys.

And here's me! I must be a really stiff thrower. All the pictures of me throwing look exactly like this one...

Jason and dad played again while Jax graced us with his presence since he was hungry. What a cute little guy!
On the way home, we decided to stop at Waikiki beach. You can't just go to Hawaii and not even see the beach. By the time we got there, it was pretty chilly out... mostly because of the wind. Flat Alix with this surfer dude... statue.
It's a pretty beach, with lots of people around and crowded with shoppers too across the street.

We went out on to this pier where on one side you can see the view where J and Ash are sitting (above), and here is the view of the other side. You can see the clouds are starting to move in again!

Dad and me. Our final holiday picture together. Boo hoo.

Actually, this is our last picture. In the airport in Portland a couple of days later before we parted to our separate gates. What a great Hawaii trip! I'm ready to go back again!!!!!!